eagle019

Here's some of what Paul Harvey would say is "THE REST OF THE STORY" ! I have been involved with Camp Teetonkah since 1986 ! I served on Camp Staffs there with my wife (free full time Camp Nurse) for the last seven years we had summer camp, 1988 to 1994 ! I have been involved with that camp since Ranger Rennell started there ! In 1993, our happy little Council was merged with a larger Council ! It was not a happy situation any more ? Any of you that lived through a merger can spew your horror stories I'm sure ! Before the merger, camp had it's own following from the area that would donate with a phone call from Carl, material, labor and equipment to keep our 90 year old piece of "educational property" operating smoothly ! I was on the Council Camping Committee and the Council Properties Committee ! We always managed our class "A" rating during the annual regional inspections ! Soon after the merger, the Council Executive Board decided to "close" Camp teetonkah for "code violations" ? Folks, this place was 80 years old and mostly "grand fathered" ! (I owned a construction business, and have a State of Michigan Builders License ! Grandfathering justified what we had, as compared to new codes ! Carl worked closely with the local inspectors and we fixed mandated safety violations as needed, but other things like a old wood walk in freezer in the kitchen were allowed to stay because they were there before they had regulations ! Camp was closed and the Council decided to sell off three of the four "camp" properties and put the moneys into an endowment ! Some moneys would be used for upkeep and additions to the fourth camp, Camp Munhacke that is still open ! The Council ran right in a bulldozed many of the historical buildings to clean up the place to get ready to sell ! Before the properties were posted for sale, a group of volunteers, chosen by the Council Executive Board were assembled to screen the individual districts, troops, and chartering organizational reps, using meetings and fire side chats at round tables, to screen the volunteer's as to which camps they wanted to see sold, and which to save ? After a 6 month study, the group came to the Executive Board with the recommendation that "NO CAMPS SHOULD BE SOLD", and funding should be sought to keep them going ! Three minutes after the leader of the study group Dr Craig Younkman finished his very professional presentation with all the facts and findings, the Executive Board voted to sell ? At this point, we from the little old Land-O-Lakes Council knew we were butting heads with a bigger rack ? In a very short time the big camp, 600+ acres, 200 miles north, Wrights Lake Scout Camp was sold ! The community stepped up when they heard that Camp Teetonkah was put up for sale ! Bids that were received by the Council was far lower than they had anticipated ? At one point the County Parks was even involved to see if it could become a county park ! The County wanted the camp donated because of money constraints ? I don't have to tell you how that went ? Within a month, Dr Younkman was very upset and gathered a group of about 40 families for a meeting to see if we could press for a fundraising campaign to save Camp Teetonkah ! A very professional presentation was made to the Executive Board, and the group "FRIENDS of CAMP TEETONKAH" ( a state licensed non-profit) took on the challenge ! We (I was part of the vigilante group) were allowed one year to get the $1,000,000 needed for an endowment that would generate money to "CARE" for camp ! The area stepped up ! The commitment was met ! We thought we were in like Flynn ! Wrong ? Properties committee voted to re-open camp, and crutch up the needed things to get the property back in use by the kids who wanted to camp there ! It's been a fight ever since ! The next Properties Committee meeting would be the last ? Seems the property manager convinced the Council Exec. that the committee was no longer needed on the volunteer side because the Council had a full time paid employee to do that work ! Did I mention the Property Manager was also the other Camp Ranger ? By shutting down the properties committee, the properties manager got rid of (or P o'd) a great group of volunteers, mostly never to be seen again ? Then the camping committee was used as dial indicator of how things should happen in the camps ! I made the mistake of telling the Properties Manager one night at a meeting that "HE" needed to do some of the things that he was he complaining about volunteers not getting done, because he was paid to do them ? You guessed it...next camping committee meeting I was told I was no longer a voting member of that committee ? New people were brought in that voted "correctly" at future meetings ? To this day, I still have feelings that the Council wants to dispose of Camp Teetonkah ! Everyone of us from the "GOOD OLD DAYS" they get rid of, is one less guy that knows the whole story ! Scouting is a short term commitment to 99% of Scouts and Scouters ! Adults get involved while their boys are active ! That's an national average of about a year ! Ten years down the road, the information is lost as to what should be, as compared to what is ? Well we are 13 years into the merger ! There isn't many of us left ! Getting Carl Rennell out of the picture, is multiplied ten fold, no a 100 fold.....? Folks are fed up with what the program has turned into ? We no longer hear much about program ! It's all about endowments, FOS money, and how much pop corn that can be sold ? Carl has been "retired" as a cost saving measure ? Up until a few years ago, Carl worked in that camp for the house he lived in ! Then the Council started paying him a very small salary, about $9000 annually, out of an approx. $60,000 budget ! The properties manager / ranger gets the rest ! Remember this is a cost saving measure ? Seems like we boned out the roast, and threw away the meat here ? Grapevine has it the Properties Manager and some Council Staff will make the 30 mile drive when needed to camp, in Council owned and maintained vehicles, with the Council Gasoline charge card ? At what $.40 per vehicle mile, that's $24 a trip ! If someone goes out there once a day to make sure the place hasn't burned to the ground, $24 x 30 = $720 ! Carl's pay $750 month ? The Council saves $30 a month and no full time resident Ranger will be in camp ? Can you say "POLITICAL" ? I feel it will be years before the Council will see sufficient FOS money from the old "WEST SIDE", to make this "SMOOTH" move pay ? Carl has always been the warmest of friends to every Scout and Scouter that ever touched a foot in that Camp ! He could not be replaced in any matter, just because he's been involved with that camp since he was in Cub Scouts ! He had great relations with the property owners around camp ! If we had a big to do out there and needed a neighboring piece of land to camp a Jamboree troop in or park cars in, Carl took care of it ! Carl saw to all the "light" maintenance around camp like mowing grass and plowing snow, and cutting up down trees from storms himself ! He had to be in camp every weekend for campers ! This left no "FREE" time as we are so used to ! These things never summed up the agreed upon 20 hours a week the Council thought Carl should work for his "SALARY" ? Carl is a strong individual who will succeed in what he gets himself into next ! Carl is a people person ! The Council.....I'm not so sure how this will affect them ? They have become so cold to what happens between the volunteers and the paid Staff ? They will have to go a long ways into proving to me, that this "COST SAVING" move was nothing but the continued friction between the "EAST and the WEST" ! I have been in business and if we can't make money with the full time staff we have, someone gets laid off ? We all understand that ! Ranger Renell's termination makes no financial sense ! This is purely political ! A lot of things have changed with me and my dedication to the Council since this rude behavior to an employee took place ? I have removed all of my Scouting memorabilia display out of the Camp Museum ! I won't leave that there with no one watching the place full time ! I surely hope the Scouting Program succeeds ! I hope they change their policy and go back to what Baden Powell wanted for youth ! We are about three light years away from there now ? They can't cut my pay ? I'm not afraid to put my name on this thread either ! Asst Scoutmaster, Troop 432 Brooklyn 1986 - 1993 Scouters Training Award 1989 District Award of Merit 1989 Teetonkah Lodge Honor Award 1989 Woodbadge EC 357 W, 1987, Staff EC 410 W 1991 Vigil Teetonkah Lodge 206 National Jamboree Scoutmaster 1989, 1993 NOAC contingent Leader 1988, 90, 92, 94 Philmont Retreat Contingent Leader for Section C-2A 1995 Silver Beaver 1995 Founders Award 2003 Current Historian Manitous Lodge 88 Cary M Sitarz